Jewel

Singer / Songwriter

Born: 23 May 1974

Birthplace: Payson, Utah

Best known as: The singer of the hit "You Were Meant For Me"

Name at birth: Jewel Kilcher

Jewel made her mark as a singer and songwriter with her winsome 1995 debut album, Pieces of You, which featured the hit songs "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "You Were Meant For Me." The album went on to sell 12 million copies and made Jewel a sudden star. Jewel Kilcher was raised in rural Alaska and in the early 1990s moved to southern California, where her mother was living after her parents' divorce years earlier. She lived in a van and sang in coffeehouses, gaining a following and, eventually, a record deal. Her introspective folk-pop songs and vocal talents soon had critics comparing her to Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos, and her second album, Spirit (1998) was an immediate success. In addition to being a pop star, Jewel published A Night Without Armor in 1998, a best-selling collection of poetry, and she co-starred with Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich in the 1999 film Ride With the Devil (directed by Ang Lee). Her pop records include the Christmas album Joy: A Holiday Collection (1999), This Way (2001), 0304 (2003) and Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (2006). In 2008 she switched to country, releasing the album Perfectly Clear, and followed it with the 2010 album Sweet and Wild.

Extra credit: Jewel married champion bull rider Ty Murray in 2008. Their son, Kase Townes Murray, was born on 11 July 2011... Jewel is 5'6" tall, according to her official site... Her mother and longtime manager, Lenedra Carroll, is the author of The Architecture of All Abundance and a motivational speaker on humanitarian issues.